If you get taken by a scammer and the amount you lost is small should you just let it go or give honest bad feedback and let your own feedback suffer as a result ???

I had not been using the bay for long but I had a 100% feedback and then I saw an add offering Sky TV free on your computer , It was only £3-50 so I sent off my money (via paypal), in return I got a very badly written mail that was totally unworkable, to my mind a total scam.

At first I thought oh well its only £3-50 so let it go, but then I thought wait a minute how many £3-50s is he going to get off this and how many people will get ripped off ? so I started by giving him a bad feedback and saying what had happened honestly.

BIG MISTAKE ! , my 100% feedback dropped drastically because I hadnt tried to sort it with him but if I had of done he would have continued the scam with others . I then reported the scam to ebay with full details and lo and behold 3 days later I recieved a warning off ebay telling me not to deal with this person due to him breaking copyright etc.(bit late that).

I then asked ebay to reinstate my 100% feedback due to me being ripped off and saving others from the same as they had agreed that it was a scam but because I hadnt tried to resolve the situation with the scammer ???? my lost feedback reputation would stand !!!.

I have now well started to regain my % due to the fair way I buy and sell (Im not a trader), but can someone explain what I did wrong apart from being honest and trying to save others money ??.

As a footnote :- The scammer first of all hid his feedback and then changed his name , So take care out there because I learnt the hard way that it doesnt always pay to be honest.

Mal .